The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) is an umbrella organization representing number of Muslim institutions in the Montreal region.

Muslim Council of Montreal slams PQ and sensationalist reporting from Journal de Montreal over recent halal meat controversy

March 15, 2012

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montreal, Quebec, March 15th, 2012-The Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) strongly
condemned this morning the recent inflammatory culture war being instigated by theParti Québécois and the Journal de
Montreal regarding the issue of halal meat in Quebec.

"Once again we have
the PQ and Journal de Montreal seeking to create a mass hysteria and frenzy by
deliberating twisting and misrepresenting the facts in this issue,” stated
Salam Elmenyawi, president of MCM. “While they would claim that halal meat
slaughter contravenes ‘Quebec values’, the facts demonstrate that halal meat is
slaughtered in accordance to food and safety quality control standards that are
mandated by the federal government and this slaughter is regulated by both
provincial and federal food-inspection standards."

MCM thanks Pierre Corbeil, Food and Agricultural Minister in Quebec,
for identifying the comments of the PQ as being “alarmist” and rejecting their
unfounded claims that halal meat slaughter was cruel or unsafe.

“If the PQ is truly concerned about animal safety, we invite them to do
something about the existence of the inhumane puppy mills in the province,”
Elmenyawi said. “Instead of acting responsibly and doing something worthwhile,
it is clear that they prefer to agitate the public by fanning the flames of
intolerance, ignorance and division.”

The
Muslim Council of Montreal (MCM) is an umbrella organization representing a
number of Islamic institutions in the Montreal region. There are over 275,000
Muslims in Montreal, about 1,200,000 in Canada and 1.9 billion worldwide.